Just when money is needed badly, it is the
time when pensioners like veterans should
have more in life, because they have given
the best years of their lives to the service
of the fatherland and the future which is
the now-generation.

Justice Venancio
Aldecoa, Jr., 2nd Negros
Oriental veterans
district commander, said
the P5,000 monthly
pension of a veteran is
not enough to cover for
their medical expenses
and hospitalization
because most of them
are in the advanced age
of 80 to 90 years old
and some of them are
sickly. World War II
veterans in Negros
Oriental are clamoring
for an increase in their
monthly pension, in lieu
with the increasing cost
of basic commodities,
as well as the high cost
of medicines and
hospitalization.

The concern was
raised by the veterans
during the 67th
anniversary celebration
of the liberation day of
Dumaguete and Negros
Oriental from the
clutches of Japanese
imperialism.

Since the liberation
day, Aldecoa recalled
they have been asking
the American
government for equal
benefits with that of
American WW II
veterans as promised by
then Pres. Franklin
Roosevelt.

In remembering
the faithful day of April
26, 1944, Aldecoa said
Dumagueteños and
Negrenses should
celebrate the occasion,
and that the guerillas
will only be the guests.

Sad to note, in
yesterday’s celebration,
only Gov. Roel Degamo
made his presence felt
in expressing sympathy
to the cause of the
veterans, whose
numbers are dwindling.

He promised to
allocate P100,000 for
the yearly celebration
of the veterans in the
province.

Aldecoa further
recalled that Dumaguete City was spared from
the destruction in 1944
because guerilla
commanders in Negros
and the commander of
the invasion troops
from America have
agreed to divert the
battlefield to the
mountains, and
Dumagueteños should
be thankful for this.

In reacting to the
clamor of the veterans,
Nostradamus
Villanueva, chief of
operations of the
Philippine Veterans
Affairs Office (PVAO),
said the government is
already expanding the
medical services for
veterans. These include
orthopedic implants and
prosthesis, hearing aid,
orthopedic braces,
pustiso, hernia mesh,
cataract removal,
angiogram, bypass,
among others.
He also disclosed
plans to establish
hospitals for the
veterans in Mindanao
and in Cebu while nine
government hospitals in
Negros are already
accredited by PVAO.

But on the clamor
for increased pension,
Villanueva said the
government can do
nothing about, unless
the law is amended.

Proposed
legislations to this
effect is pending in
congress for more than
three years, one of
which was filed by Sen.
Trillanes. It calls for
P1,000 increase every
year until the pension is
fixed at P10,000.jg